The Democratic Field

The Democratic primaries are heating up, and with so many candidates still vying over who will face Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election, it can be hard to distinguish between them. After all, aren’t they all just different sides of the same communist coin? So, in keeping with the logical and rational tradition of the Cistercian order, let’s take a purely objective, unbiased look at the field of Democratic candidates.

Joe Biden

After the failure of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign, establishment Democrats began the search for another out-of-touch boomer to carry on her mantle. Lo and behold, former Vice President Joe Biden entered the mix. He represents a regression to the Obama years. One thing Biden has going for him is that he is by far the most senile candidate, except for perhaps Trump himself. The man can barely form a sentence and new gaffes happen daily. A memorable quote came from when Biden responded “We need to keep punching at it” — to a question about ending violence against women.

Mike Bloomberg

Former mayor of New York City Mike Bloomberg entered the race long after the others. Since his campaign announcement in late November, he has advertised relentlessly and offered $6,000 per month to anyone willing to canvass for him. He can afford to do this because he is a billionaire. This tactic of throwing a bunch of money at voters and hoping they will listen is interesting, and only time will tell if it works.

Andrew Yang

Tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang, although it appears unlikely that he will actually win the nomination, has certainly made a splash in the primaries. His main platform is the Freedom Dividend, or Universal Basic Income (UBI). This involves giving one thousand dollars to all citizens over 18 every month. The idea sounds appealing at first glance, but it has been criticized by both sides of the political spectrum for being too radical, not radical enough, or simply unsustainable.

Pete Buttigieg

This mayor of South Bend, is vanilla personified. Despite his absolute refusal to challenge the status quo or put forth any noteworthy ideas, he is leading the polls in Iowa and New Hampshire. His main appeals are his youth (he’s only 37) as well as his perceived “smartness.” Mayor Pete speaks eight languages and has a degree from Harvard. This doesn’t correlate to political savvy, as his Douglass Plan was a catastrophe that was strongly criticized by the people it was supposed to help.

Elizabeth Warren

Elizabeth Warren has established herself firmly as the “second-most” progressive candidate. When you look at the competition, this isn’t really saying much. Warren made
a name for herself by having lots of plans, which mostly emphasize ending corruption in D.C. and strengthening our democracy. Her vague diction veils a wholly unremarkable platform which is inextricably tied to big money and establishment Democrats, despite her insistence that it is not. She has also been criticized for her moderate stance on Medicare and her right-wing stance on the military.

Bernie Sanders

Bernie Sanders is the oldest candidate running, but his policies have evidently struck a chord with many young voters. These policies, which include debt relief for college students, eliminating for-profit prisons, rolling back the United States’ inflated military budget, providing healthcare for over 30 million uninsured Americans, and tackling climate change, are overwhelmingly popular among the youth. He has also consistently upheld anti-billionaire sentiment, which most other candidates have recoiled from because they are either funded by billionaires or are themselves billionaires. His campaign is a step to the left for American politics, and whether voters like it remains to be seen.

The views expressed within this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of Cistercian or The Cistercian Informer.